Love Of The Game
by CCAdventures
Summary: PART ONE :: FRESHMAN YEAR. When Mercedes goes to high school, her family, her friends, and the marching band have plans for her future.  But will she agree with them? Rated T for language and tense situations.
1. May The Force Be With You

Love of the Game

PART I :: FRESHMAN YEAR

A/N: So this is basically my story on how I came to join the marching band after some tragic high school drama. Names are changed so no Mercedes is not my name, ha-ha it's actually the name of someone who ends being part of this story (you'll have to guess who I swapped with)

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Disclaimer: I do not own this state, this school, this band, or these people. I only own myself, my future, and the way this story turns out. 3

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Intro: May The Mass Times Acceleration Be With You

Mercedes Noel Grant never considered herself to be an outgoing person like all of her friends in band. She had always shied away from activities that would put her name in shining lights or make her look better than someone else. That's why nobody, not even herself, expected her high school life to turn out the way that it did.

She wasn't exactly a normal girl either. While most shy girls dreamed of becoming a cheerleader or Homecoming Queen, she dreamed of going to comic conventions. Life in a state as big as Texas seemed to cut you off from the outside world at times.

She had a lot of friends who were always sure to back her up in a fight. She only considered five of all those people to be her best friends and she only trusted one of _those_ to tell everything to. She had a lot of things in common with her friends ranging from a love of anime to a love of the marching band, but she only had one thing in common with _ALL_ of them. She wanted to find that greater force of the universe, the one that some people spend their whole lives searching for. She wanted to find something or someone that could truly make her happy and keep her happy forever.

She wanted love.

And she didn't think that she could find it until the craziest thing happened…


	2. Something Fishy Going On

Love Of The Game

PART I :: FRESHMAN YEAR

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Disclaimer: I also do not own Converse, Santa Claus, Sonic the Hedgehog, Star Wars, Star Trek, MG Building Materials, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or anything else in this chapter that I might have missed

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Chapter One: Something Fishy Going On

It was the first day of 9th grade and Cassidy didn't know whether to be excited or upset. Or even both. Despite he best friends always having generally sunny outlooks on life, she tended to be a glass-is-half-empty kind of girl. She had a lot of friends, good grades, played clarinet in the Mighty Eagle Marching Band, and for once in her life was totally free of a boyfriend. How could life possibly get any better?

She sighed and tucked her short blonde hair behind her ears before picking up her worn out backpack and walking out of her room. That backpack was lucky. It had been through so much with her in the years before, so why not take it out for one more day? No harm no foul, right?

"Mom! Would you please hurry? I don't want to be late on the first day!"

Little did Cassidy know that her best friend of ten years was in for a rough day, lucky backpack or not.

* * *

Mercedes was having a good morning. She wore her new Converse, some denim gauchos, a purple plaid button up shirt, and she had recently gotten a hair cut. What a perfect way to start out high school. When she arrived, she took the time to get acquainted with her friends since they didn't have band that morning. But even as she talked to her close friends, she couldn't shake off a feeling of foreboding. It was the kind that made you want to blurt out "I have a bad feeling about this." She didn't know what it meant until she actually entered the school.

The school was huge and she needed to find room 601 before morning announcements started. She had searched nearly every hallway for it with her close friend of three years, Carolina. When they both finally built up the nerve to ask for directions, they figured out that they had passed it up several times.

The teacher that was waiting at the door was fat. There was no there word for it. He looked like those depictions of Santa Claus from children's books only he wasn't jolly at all. She looked down the long, empty hallway while Carolina was let in. He cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Oh. Um, good morning Mister…Eggman?" It was an odd name indeed, but she hadn't meant for it to come out as a question. She pulled an innocent smile as he stared at her blankly, obviously not wanting to be awake at this ungodly hour.

"What's your name?" His voice was monotone and gravely, only adding more to his lazy appearance. When he spoke she noticed a small portion of his mustache, the part right under his nose, was bright yellow.

_Wow, how did I not see that?_

She blinked when he cleared his throat, yet again.

"Oh, it's Mercedes. Mercedes Grant." The old man's finger trailed down the paper in his hand. The action was obviously taking a lot out of him.

"Ah, yes. Mercedes. You are needed at the principal's office."

_Uh-oh._

"Um, okay." She walked back down the hallway to the principal's office, passing Cassidy, Hunter, and Aiden's classrooms. The three people she had hoped to but hadn't seen in the morning. She walked into the office and took a seat. A lot of people were in there. Some had definitely broken the school's dress code regulations, some were obviously trouble makers, and others were just like her, having no clue whatsoever to why they had been called in on the first day.

"Mercedes!" A voice from behind her caused her to turn around. It was only Cara, who had held a party the previous week which she had attended with and was totally ignored by Cassidy. She held out her hand to Mercedes. "You left this at my house last week."

She took the necklace from Cara's hand, remembering how she had searched her house frantically for it. "Thank you." She turned back around and waited for the next hour as students were called in one by one. When there were six people left, including her, she began to feel a little anxious.

_Great, just great. I've spent the first hour of my high school career in the principal's office._

Finally, she was called in. She took a seat in his office, which was pretty much coated with Texas Longhorn memorabilia, and set her book bag on her lap for comfort. He was seated across from her. A golden name plate stood on the desk that separated student and administrator. **Dr. Warden.** She eyed it very carefully as he spoke.

"Do you know why you're in here?"

She crossed her ankles. "No sir."

"It's Mercedes isn't it?"

She started fiddling with her thumbs. "Yes sir."

"Well Mercedes, it seems here that we don't have your immunization records and without these records, you can't start school. Do you have them with you?"

_Oh, crap. _She hugged her bag closer to her body. "No sir."

"Okay, do you know where they are?

She struggled to make eye contact with him. "At my house, sir."

"Can you call your mother or someone to go get them?"

She couldn't speak anymore so she simply nodded. She was lead to the front office once again and was given the phone. When the secretary asked her what the number was, she frantically tried to remember her mother's work number and gave her a number that she _thought _was correct.

_Riiing, Riiing, Riiing._

"_Hello, this is Willa. Please leave your name and—"_

She hung up. "No, that wasn't it." She looked around the room and spotted the school's police officer, whom she knew was a frequent customer to the lumberyard.

"Excuse me, officer, but do you know the number to MG?" He gave her the _right _number.

_Riiing, Riiing, Riiing._

"_Hello, this is MG Building Materials, how may I help you?"_

"Can I speak to Carol, please?"

"_OK, just one second." (Long Pause) "This is Carol, how may I help you?"_

"Mom?"

"_What?"_

"I need my shot records." Her mom groaned.

"_I thought you took them with you this morning."_

"I forgot them."

"_Sweetie, I can't just leave work—"_

"I know, but can't you just get Dad or Aunt Janie to get them? They know where the spare—"

"_No, your dad has school and I'm not going to bother your aunt. I'll go get them but you better not do crap like this again, understand?"_

"Yes ma'am."

"_Okay bye. Love you."_

"Love you too."

She waited while her mom came and dropped off her shot records. But not before throwing a fit at Dr. Warden. Mercedes hated bringing her mom into things because of the rash way she reacted. She sighed, grabbed her paperwork, and went to class. Her day went pretty well after that.

* * *

At lunch they served Barbeque on a Bun. Alondra looked at her plate and scrunched up her nose.

"Well, they certainly know what to serve to make you NOT want to eat."

Jamie looked at her, unimpressed. "Why didn't you get pizza like me and Mercedes?" Mercedes nodded in agreement.

"But I don't like pizza." Alondra whined.

Bianca, feeling left out, joined in on the conversation. "Why didn't you get a burger then?"

"I don't like burgers either."

"Well then eat your hot lunch and hope its better tomorrow." Mercedes said plainly.

"Oh, all right." Alondra bit the sandwich and scrunched up her nose again. "Ugh, this is disgusting."

The four girls at the lunch table laughed.

* * *

Mercedes walked into her Geography class with that same sense of foreboding that she had in the morning. She hadn't seen Cassidy, Aaden, or Hunter since her visit to Dr. Warden's and to be perfectly honest, she didn't want to see them. They were a distraction to her calm, everyday life. She looked around the room. It had Star Wars, Star Trek, and many other geeky posters plastered to the walls at random. She was absent-mindedly staring at Kyle who had gotten in the way of a particular Star Wars poster. He smiled and waved at her. She ignored him, carrying on with her train of thought, because Kyle was a jerk plain and simple.

_I just might get along with this teacher._

She took a seat, still admiring the posters, when the bell rang. Everyone shut up as the teacher walked in. He looked exactly like the economics teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. She could tell that the other students were trying hard not to laugh. A few of them (the really annoying few) mouthed the words "nerd" and "Bueller" causing the other students to burst out in giggles.

_How immature._

She rolled her eyes and was about to turn back around when two, okay make that three blonde boys caught her eyes. The third one didn't necessarily count for he was self absorbed in the dramatic story that he was telling the two others. She bit her lip. It was Hunter and Aaden.

Now her relationship with Hunter was fairly simple. She liked him. He thought she was immature. She admired him from afar. Aaden was a different story though and to make it all make sense, you would need to know the down and dirty details. To simplify it…

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl is not interested. Boy moves on. Girl falls in love with boy. Boy is not interested. Girl, well we don't want to give away the ending to this story yet, do we?

Those two boys looked quite alike as well. There were some differences that Mercedes could pick out though. Their eye color was one of those things. Aaden had light blue eyes while Hunter's were an olive green. Aaden had a football two-a-days tan. Hunter had a far more visible summer marching band camp tan. Either way, they were both incredibly handsome and-

"I thought you said that you wanted to PASS Geography this year, unlike sixth grade." Mercedes jumped at the sound of Jamie's voice in her ears.

_Oops._

"Oh yes, of course."

She turned back around and blinked a few times to clear her mind.

_This is going to be a long year…_

_

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_

**Today is going to be a part of PART II :: SOPHMORE YEAR which will be published as soon as I'm done writing the events of my freshman year into a drama packed High School Marching Band story. Yes, sadly, this was how my first day of High School went. The main characters in this story are gonna be Mercedes, Aaden, Cassidy, and Hunter. Sophmore year's main characters so far have been Mercedes, Kyle, Jamie, and Kimberly. I wonder if anyone can figure out what the "game" mentioned in the title is...**

**~CCAdventures**


	3. Of Boyfriends and Best Friends

Love Of The Game

PART ONE :: FRESHMAN YEAR

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Disclaimer: I also do not own the choir, FFA, the national anthem, MySpace, the girl code, the Performing Arts Center, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga, Oreos, Hallmark, or anything else in this chapter that I might have missed.

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Chapter Two: Of Boyfriends and Best Friends

Mercedes stood out on the track with the rest of the choir. They were having fun doing model poses and rock star worthy high fives. Her laugh echoed to Cassidy's ears and Cassidy was downright frustrated. She still couldn't believe that Mercedes had done such a thing to her. She thought that she could trust her. Even now as she is dating Hunter, she has an odd feeling that he's going to be taken away from her. She may have made up with her "best friend" but there were still trust issues to be dealt with. She sighed and noticed that the choir had gotten into formation, listening intently to their instructor. Mercedes said something, but she couldn't hear what.

"Everyone please stand for the performing of our national anthem by the high school choir."

Everybody stood and faced the flag as it was raised by the FFA. She took one last glance at Mercedes before they started singing.

_Show off._

_

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_

Two Weeks Earlier

Mercedes was mad. No, she was furious. Her best friend since preschool had broken the number one rule of the girl code.

_If your BFF likes a guy, do not flirt with or go out with him._

Mercedes was so upset; she had gone and broken rule number two out of pure jealousy.

_Do not go out with your BFF's ex without asking her first._

I hadn't lasted very long though. She broke up with him as soon as she realized how stupid and immature she was acting. She had also made the mistake of telling Bianca about it, which led to a very long text argument with Cassidy. A life long friendship had ended over something as silly as a boy. Mercedes cried herself to sleep tht night, not because Cassidy was going out with Hunter or that she had been deleted off of her friends list on MySpace or that she had been called a bitch behind her back. She cried because she lost her best friend and there was nothing she could do about it.

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Three Weeks Later

Mercedes stood outside the Performing Arts Center, tapping her foot. She was getting impatient standing out in the sun until the bell rang. It was Friday morning, and they had just called a fire drill in the middle of choir rehearsal. A small group of sopranos had decided to gather and practice their music. The drama students scowled. It wasn't THEIR kind of music. Drama was a required course, so the people in it preferred listening to Lil Wayne and Lady Gaga over Randall Thompson any day. They didn't want to be out in the sun either.

Mercedes saw the Jazz Band seniors and their director smiling at them, amused by the choir's dedication. One of those seniors was her cousin, Samantha. Mercedes looked away and joined in with the others singing "Gloria".

The time passed and finally the bell rang. Everyone walked back to the building, their mums jingling and dragging on the ground. It was Homecoming 2009. Mercedes had worked the entire weekend before, decorating the hallways for their "Blast/Countdown to the Coyotes" themed contest. Sure they all got in trouble for the red paint on the floor and ceiling, but it was all worth it. Bell after bell she walked through hallways covered in paint, foil, streamers, spaceships, and for some odd reason, happy trees. When she finally got to AlgeBra, as her teacher like to spell it, everyone was beyond hyper and waiting to be called out for the pep rally. You could tell who wasn't in band because they were the only three not wearing the white band t-shirts.

Hunter watched as Mercedes held up a mirror for Cassidy while she put on some green eye shadow. Mercedes blinked, trying to get used to the thick layer of glitter that was put on her eyes in Spanish class. She puffed up her cheeks to get used to the war paint, also from Spanish class. Hunter eyed her curiously.

_I will never understand that girl…_

"Aww man!" Both Hunter and Mercedes turned to see that Cassidy had spilt the dark make-up all over her white shirt. They grimaced. That was going to leave a stain.

Pretty soon the band and cheerleaders were called out, leaving Mercedes, James, and Oreo. Oreo and James looked at Mercedes who was wearing a lime green fedora with a purple tunic, black leggings, and ballet flats.

"Your hair looks pretty today Sadie." Oreo had always sucked to her. Maybe he had a crush on her or maybe because they had known each other since Kindergarten, she would never know. She lost her train of though when Mr. Roberts moon-walked out of the classroom. The three teens laughed.

He poked his head back in. "Well aren't you guys coming?" With that, they took off to the pep rally.

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Three Days Later

Aaden hadn't expected Jamie to come up to him after lunch with a light blue envelope.

"It's from Mercedes." The mere mention of that girl's name was enough to make his hands clammy with fear. She seriously scared him.

_Not this again…_

"What?" Jamie asked. Aaden hadn't realized that he had spoken out loud.

"Um, nothing." Jamie nodded and started to walk away, leaving him to his letter from his lovesick stalker.

_On my birthday of all days…_

"Wait, Jamie?" She turned around and waited for him to speak again. "Can you read it with me?" He felt ridiculous asking her this. It was like asking your mother to walk you to the bathroom at the movie theater because you were scared. His hands shook as he opened the envelope.

_Well at least she didn't lick it…_

He almost slapped himself for such an immature thought. Inside the envelope was a colorful card with the words 'Happy Birthday!' written in shining letters across the front. Now he was definitely afraid to open it.

_How did she know that today was my birthday?_

He opened the card which also said Happy Birthday on the inside. Underneath it was a hand written note. He had to admit that she had nice handwriting. He took a deep breath and read it.

**_Dear Aaden,_**  
**_ Happy 15th Birthday! I hope you have a good day. It's the thought that counts, right?_**

**_-Mercedes Noel Grant_**

He blinked. It wasn't what he had been expecting at all. He looked at Jamie who was huddled next to him, still reading.

"Where is she?" he asked when she was finished. Jamie gave him a surprised look and then proceeded to look around for her friend. He followed her gaze until they both spotted her talking to Cassidy and Hunter. Jamie ran over and dragged to hesitant girl over to him. For the few seconds that she was away, he felt like a total idiot.

When Jamie finally got to his side, Mercedes looked him over quickly and stepped another inch away. Aaden decided to be nice. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a big hug. Still holding her, he looked at her.

"Thank You! How did you know that today was my birthday?" She blushed.

"You told me at the pep rally on Friday, during the freshman dance."

_Oh yeah, she was in line right next to me, duh._

She pulled an embarrassed smile. He could tell that she couldn't make up her mind about whether or not she wanted him to let go of her.

Mercedes made her decision and hugged him back, enjoying the once in a lifetime experience.

* * *

One Class Period Later

Mercedes rushed to her next class, not caring about the teachers who yelled at her for running or about the ones who were just waiting for her to trip. She ran into her Speech class room and threw her stuff on the table and plopped down in her seat. She then waited patiently until Chloe came in and sat down.

"Oh my gosh, you will never guess what just happened!" Chloe was surprised by the sudden outburst but of course, she WAS talking to Mercedes. Robyn was listening now as well and was just as surprised.

"Does it have something to do with Blue Shirt?" Blue Shirt was their code name for Aaden.

"Yeah, he hugged me at lunch today! Oh my gosh this is gonna keep me happy for the rest of the year!"

The three girls at the table laughed.

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**A/N: I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgivng and ate lots of turkey! I know I did lol. Anyways the month of November has been pretty rough in terms of relationships and school as will be told in the sequel. The next chapter will be short and up soon I hope. Have a good day!**

**~CCAdventures**


	4. Homeroom Horror

Love Of The Game

PART ONE :: FRESHMAN YEAR

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the people, places, or products mentioned in this story.

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Chapter Three: Homeroom Horror

Even after adjusting to her new schedule, Mercedes still had a hard time getting from choir to homeroom. No, it wasn't because she had to walk a quarter of a mile I under five minutes carrying all her music and books. _No,_ it wasn't _that_ at all. She sighed when she finally got into the class as the bell rang. The teacher looked at her and held out a piece of paper.

"You're not in this advisory anymore."

Mercedes blinked as she accepted the paper. She was glad that she was leaving because, even though she was her friend, she had been about ready to a file a sexual harassment claim against the girl sitting behind her. She was upset because she didn't know whether she was closer or farther from her choir class. She read her new schedule and walked down the now empty hallways. She looked at the door in front of her and sighed once more.

_Thirty feet closer. Good._

Only Heaven knows what everyone else in the room thought as she walked in, but she knew what she thought. It was a class much smaller than usual, so she could pick out individual faces easily. The first people she saw were, of course, Hunter and Daniel calling her over to their self proclaimed section of the classroom. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Hunter calling her over, but she ignored it.

_Besides, he's going out with Cassidy now._

She silently sat down. Daniel, being the strange boy that he is, gave her an Oreo.

"Thank you." She smiled at Hunter and Daniel. They smiled back.

"So, how has your day been?" Hunter asked.

"Fairly interesting. What about you?"

"Absolutely great." He smiled like a kid in a candy shop. She laughed.

"That's good to hear."

And that's how their friendship began.

* * *

Mercedes sat on the swingset in the front yard. It was gloomy looking outside, but her day had been anything but. She had just gotten a new game for her Nintendo DS, the one she had been waiting for all summer long. After playing it a few hours straight, she decided that she needed some fresh air. It wasn't raining so why waste a perfectly good swingset. It was the perfect place to just sit and think about things.

Her life was at a stand still. It would fall apart and then something would come along and patch it up. A random thought popped into her head about finishing up her project for Speech class. She looked up towards the cloudy sky. Five or six butterflies flew over head and Mercedes shuddered. Butterflies. There was no other insect that she hated more. They symbolized "coming out" and were just down right creepy. She frowned at that thought. It was almost as if every guy at school knew about her family's dirty little secret and didn't want to go out with her because of it. Or maybe she was just paranoid. Yeah, just paranoid. She sighed. Aaden had been caught making out with a senior in the school parking lot. She wasn't jealous, she was just upset. She was head over heels for a man-whore. What a way to be known.

"Mercedes!"

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by her younger sister, Sterling. Sterling was one of the most popular and beautiful girls at the junior high, and sadly, she knew it. Mercedes frowned.

"What do you want?" she replied, yelling over the barking of the neighborhood dogs.

"Mom said you need to come inside and finish your costume. She didn't buy those supplies for nothing!" the younger girl shot back. She finished her snobby speech with a smug look on her face.

Mercedes sighed. With that, she abandoned her trail of thought and the swingset, leaving them in the cold October gloom.

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**A/N: Finally, I have updated this story. I was so focused on finishing the next chapter that I forgot about about uploading this one. It wasn't a filler chapter, it was actually necessary in introducing the friendship between Hunter and Mercedes, which leads to trouble later on, and it introduces another family member of Mercedes, Sterling. She will play a big role in the sequel as well as her father. Well' thats all for now folks.**

**Cheers!  
~CCAdventures**


	5. Christmas Thinking, Christmas Drinking

Love Of The Game

PART ONE :: FRESHMAN YEAR

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the people, places, or products mentioned in this story.

WARNING: Underage drinking is present in this chapter.

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Chapter Four: Christmas Thinking, Christmas Drinking

It was December. When most people hear December, they automatically think about snow, family time, and Christmas. Mercedes wasn't like most people. The glorious holiday season marked when most of her friends were brought into the world. It was _always_ someone's birthday in December. The month also marked a shortage of money. Without money, she never really got her friends birthday gifts, but it all worked out one way or another.

Especially this year. This year she had the gift of music on her side. She was actually going to be able to attend her friends' band concert for the very first time. It was their very first high school concert. Well formal concert, if you consider marching season to be a concert. She was attending as a promise to Hunter…but before the concert, she had a party to attend.

* * *

_Brain fried tonight through misuse…_

Mercedes finally came home after being at Marissa's party. She went straight to her room. No questions were asked. It was…normal. Sort of. As soon as she got in her room, she stripped out of her clothes. They smelt like cigarettes, beer, and greasy food. Her hair smelt the same way too. Still feeling a bit woozy from what occurred at the party, she got some clean clothes and took a shower.

_Through misuse, through misuse…_

It was the Saturday before the busiest week of the year for Mercedes. She wanted to relax. She also wanted to go to Marissa's party at the bowling alley. The problem was that Marissa wasn't exactly from the "good" circle of friends. That little group of friends would be bound to get into trouble at a _party._ Her mother didn't know that though. She sighed and looked at the clock. She would go anyways.

_What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Is it a monster?_

When she got to the bowling alley, a group of people were sitting around a table. She knew them, of course, but she decided to sit next to the one she knew best, Jamie. Nobody was really doing anything other than texting.

"Where's Marissa?" she asked. Marissa's boyfriend, Henry was obviously annoyed by everyone.

"She might not come because of her mom." That made everyone upset. What's a birthday party without the birthday girl anyways? Jamie and Mercedes got everyone to calm down and move to the back of the building where there were pool tables, a jukebox, and some video games. The teens got situated on benches and music was picked for the night. They all had a good (and fairly entertaining) view of the people bowling. Some were really bad and others were good and they knew it, but they were having a good time. Part of their good time, was washing down their losses with a bottle of beer. That's when things started to go bad.

_Stand up; get out, no excuse…_

Mercedes' long time friend and ex-boyfriend, Raymond, was also attending the party. He was one of the trouble makers. Whenever one of the men brought a beer to the table and opened it, only to leave it on the table is when Raymond and Ivy struck. They stole the beers when the drunken owners weren't looking. They had their fun while Mercedes watched them and texted Hunter. The two talked about Cassidy and Aaden mostly. It was somewhere during this time that she accepted some of the beer. She knew she shouldn't have, but something just drew her to it. All of the talk about Aaden drew her to it. She wished that she could forget about that boy. He only caused her trouble.

_Confused, mind bruised, it seeps out…_

She didn't know how much she had drank or how much of the smoke in the air that she had inhaled, but it was definitely enough to make her feel a bit absent minded. Jamie had been talking about something, but she had only heard parts of the story. At least she laughed at the right times.

"…I mean you look a little spaced out. Have you been texting Aaden?" That got her attention.

"Huh? Oh, no. I've been talking to Hunter." Jamie accepted this answer. It wasn't a lie.

"Oh, that's good. Do you still like him?" Mercedes smiled.

"No, I consider him to be more like a brother to me." That was a lie. She still did like him. No more extremely interesting conversation was made after that other than jokes and music choices for the jukebox. When Jamie left, Mercedes hung out with Hope, who had been drinking and smoking _far_ too much. She offered for Marissa and Mercedes to accompany her and Jay to the cemetery. They agreed.

_What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Is it a monster?_

They got out the door and were about to cross the highway to the graveyard when Marissa and Mercedes began to have second thoughts about entering the spooky graveyard at eleven o'clock. The two remained on the other side. When Jay and Hope disappeared into the darkness, Marissa looked at Mercedes and the two girls broke into a drunken fit of laughter. They both knew Jay and Hope well enough to know that they would _do _something if left alone together.

Mercedes' mom picked her up soon after that. She couldn't help but have a feeling of withdrawal from the lively (and smoke filled) atmosphere of the party. She was _definitely _going to regret this at the concert.

_Stand up, brush off, get moving…_

* * *

Oh, it was definitely a bad idea. After forcing herself to roll out of bed to take some medicine for her _awful _headache, she got dressed and went to the Performing Arts Center for the winter concert. Trumpets, trombones, and baritones were nice to hear…if your head didn't feel like it had elephants stampeding through it already. When the first band was done, she fought all instinct to get up and leave as fast as possible to congratulate her friends. She didn't want to rush over to them because her body ached as well. Hunter and Cassidy spotted her and pretty soon Mercedes found herself seated in between the lovers. It was uncomfortable for Hunter and herself, but Cassidy didn't seem bothered by it at all. That made it worse for Mercedes.

The initial awkwardness went away after the first five minutes, but another odd feeling soon came up. She still liked Hunter, she knew that, but she couldn't help but think that the attraction had developed into something more. She looked at him to see if she could get any reaction out of herself. Nothing happened. It was almost as if she was looking at her…brother. She smiled at that idea. Hunter Ross, the older brother that she never had. He was protective of her enough and even though they had only known each other for two years, it felt as if they had known each other for two lifetimes.

_Maybe he was my brother in another life…_

She smiled again at that thought…and then winced as one of the trumpet players hit a wrong note. Everyone in the audience had the same reaction. Mercedes looked down the row and saw that all of her friends had chosen to sit with her. Her "brother" and her best friend had chosen to sit with her. Either her medicine had finally decided to kick in or she was just overwhelmed by a feeling of pride, because her headache went away. She decided that it was the latter. The rest of the day wasn't half bad.

* * *

Mercedes sat in a green chair wearing a black, floor length, cap sleeved, polyester gown. She fiddled impatiently with the satin ribbon that was so expertly tied around her waist. Everything was perfect. Her hair, her dress, her shoes, her voice, perfect.

"You look really pretty." A voice snapped her back into reality. She turned around to see a little girl in blue jeans and the choir polo shirt, smiling at her. She smiled back.

"Thank you. You know, if you join when you're in high school, you'll look just as beautiful." She pushed a stray hair behind the younger girl's ear.

"Really? That is so cool!" She ran off to her little group of friends in the corner.

"I hope someone shows up for me." Mercedes said as she looked to her side where Kimberly was putting on make-up.

"I'm sure that you have a better chance of someone coming than I do." she said, paying close attention to where she was putting mascara.

"Well, at least we know if nobody comes to watch us, that Mr. S will be there for us." The two girls laughed. Mr. S, otherwise known as the Creepy-Know-It-All-Biology-Teacher, had promised to come to the choir concert after he had found out that Mercedes had a solo that night. She was downright nervous.

"Yep, so let me do your make-up now." Mercedes sighed and leaned forward.

* * *

It started out as any normal day would. It went along as any normal day would. Except for the fact that it wasn't just any normal day. No, this day was not going to_ end_ normally. It was the last full day of school before winter break, after all. Anything can happen.

Mercedes was walking from Mr. Eggman's super boring English class to, of course, Geography. She would always rush to class, she practically ran. She had to get there before Hunter. If she got there before him, he would end up behind her, and when he was behind her, he would sneak up on her and scare her. She expected it. She _planned _it. If she was going to have a crush on him, she was going to get the most out of it. No harm, no foul, right? Exactly. This particular day, she caught him just in time for a nice little conversation. Well, saying "hey" back and forth doesn't really count as a conversation, but we'll just call it that. When they finally arrived at Mr. Spock's door, she looked in and immediately saw what-or should I say who-else she made a rush to class to beat. Alex. Alex had the habit of stealing her chair _every_ time that she wasn't in it. It bugged her and usually she walked up to him, tapped her foot impatiently, and he would get up and leave. The first reason why that day was not normal was that he wouldn't budge. She pulled and pleaded for him to get up when an idea (thanks to an anonymous person) popped into her head.

"Get out of my seat, or I'm gonna sit on you." Alex, being as stubborn as he was, had the nerve to retort back.

"You won't!" That hit a dead nerve. He wasn't intimidated. In her most threatening voice, which was basically the female equivalent of Shadow the Hedgehog's voice, she replied.

"Oh trust me, I_ will._" That hadn't swayed the freckled boy in the slightest. She was surprised, but she didn't show it. He looked her straight in the eye.

"Oh trust me, you _won't._" She had had enough of him.

"Okay, you asked for it!" Mercedes wasted no time in setting her bag down and then sitting on the poor boy. She felt kind of sorry for him, as he was about half her size. Hunter watched in amusement as he flailed his arms in a half hearted struggle against the girl with the upper hand, in more ways than one. She finally released him and let him scramble back to his desk just as Aaden was taking his seat. Hunter saw this as the perfect opportunity to tease the girl who was in love with the farmer and had fallen off the deep end. He watched said girl as she pulled her binder out of her bag, oblivious and daydreaming. She snapped out of it when she dropped her pencil and looked up to find him staring.

"What?" He smiled and nodded his head toward the boy in front of him.

"I'm gonna tell Aaden about what you just did." She tensed up until she got an idea.

"You won't." she replied mischievously. Catching on to her little joke, he replied in a tone more seductive than threatening.

"Oh trust me, I will." Just as she was about to reply, he leaned forward and tapped on Aaden's shoulder. She froze.

Aaden turned around from his previous conversation quickly, always ready to talk to the handsome band nerd, and then almost slapped himself for just the _thought_ of another male being _attractive._ He blushed for a quick second before coming to his senses to hear what Hunter had to say.

"You totally missed it; Mercedes just sat on Alex to make him get out of her seat." The former was blushing so hard, she was pretty sure that her skin was going to fall off. She didn't expect what Aaden did next. Well, wasn't he so full of surprises?

"Wow Mercedes, now I can't wait for tonight." He winked at her for good measure and Hunter was trying hard not to laugh. He was trying even harder _not _to think about how _seductive_ the tone of voice that Aaden had just used was. If it had even a small effect on him, he could only imagine what it did to Mercedes.

_Poor girl._

He decided to use that knowledge to his benefit. "Just so you know, the AC is on." She blushed even harder than before. He laughed, wondering how many more times blood could come and go from the girl's face before she got sick.

The hour went on, everyone chit-chatting about what they were going to do with their vacation time. It was somewhere during that time, that Aaden's future schedule change was brought up. If that didn't bring everyone in the room to a screeching halt, then only God knows what did.

Mercedes didn't have _any _classes with Aaden this year except for Geography, which was a fact that she was grateful for and it was also a fact that she regularly resented. She still wasn't used to _not _hearing his voice eight hours a day, five days a week.

Hunter was just as dumbfounded as she was when he heard this news. As he talked with Aaden about it and other conversations were carried on around the room, Mercedes was in her own little world. Now she wouldn't get to see him at all. Since the moment she met him, Aaden was always the little piece of her heart that she liked to call home. His arms were always a safe haven to fall back on when things went wrong and things were _definetly _going wrong.

After hearing the bad news and engaging in a conversation with Aaden, Hunter noticed how quiet Mercedes was. Silence just _wasn't _her thing…unless she was hurt…or mad. Anger and hurt were things that were extremely rare in her case. He could bet money that her silence was caused by the first of the two reasons. She loved Aaden. She loved him in a way that everyone longed to be loved. Aaden just had a hard time seeing it. Of _course _she was hurt. She wasn't sure if she was going to see him a lot anymore.

Hunter watched her carefully. She remained silent for the rest of the class. Not a single word was spoken during the passing period. She spoke in Algebra, but it was only to answer the problem on the board. He was at a loss. He didn't like seeing his friend like this and he didn't know what to do. A sulking Cassidy, that he could deal with, after all, she _was _his girlfriend. A sulking Mercedes was different. He had no way to comfort her. When the final bell rang, she got up and left without a word. That's when he got an idea. He ran, leaving Cassidy in the dust. When he finally caught up to Mercedes, he grabbed her shoulder, and pulled her to face him. She was shocked at first as she didn't have any warning whatsoever before she was yanked around. Her expressions softened when she saw what he was offering her. A candy cane.

"Candy…candy makes everything better." he said out of breath, repeating the words that she had spoken to him that very morning when he wouldn't accept chocolate as a cure for his headache. She accepted the candy and pulled into a big hug. That was something that he was going to have to get used to as long as he lived in this crazy little town.

"Thank you, Merry Christmas…big brother." He smiled as he realized that she had just very subtly admitted that she loved him. She loved him as a part of her family.

"Merry Christmas to you too!" He yelled back as she walked away. From behind him he heard a huff, accompanied by an imagined bouncing of bleach blonde curls. Turning on his heel, he was face to face with a pouting Cassidy. He smiled sheepishly and for a moment, he thought she didn't buy it. She smiled at him suddenly and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

_I think I might like this "family"._

* * *

It was the week of semester finals. For everyone who was exempt from all these tests, it was the unofficial first week of Christmas break. For Mercedes, it hadn't really been much of a break. She was bored, lonely, cold, but most of all she was tired. She was tired because she couldn't sleep. She couldn't sleep because she had nightmares. She had nightmares because she was worrying about Aaden. Some call it separation anxiety. Others know better. She loved they boy. She didn't like to admit it, but almost everyone knew that the quiet and shy city girl had fallen for the loud and obnoxious country boy.

Her body lay across the couch in her living room, in front of the TV. She stared at the screen, her focus on the show drifting away as she thought. It wasn't often that she had the house to herself. She had nothing to do, nobody to pick fights with, nothing to occupy her but thinking.

_This is what I worried about last year, _she thought, _that I would never see him again and all I would get was an unsatisfying goodbye._

_At least I got a goodbye…_

She looked around the room solemnly, and soon caught sight of a picture on the wall with Sterling and Joshua when they were all ten years younger.

_Back when everything was perfect…_

Mercedes sighed and walked to her bedroom. She lay on her stomach on the floor and looked under the bed. Her eyes squinted as she searched in the semi-darkness for something, anything. A small blue box came into view and she pulled it out and placed in on her bed. The lid was pulled off, revealing many folded up papers and various trinkets. Hands rummaged through the items carefully for what she was looking for. A mid-sized piece of rolled up paper, tucked neatly into the box. Brown eyes teared up as the paper unrolled to reveal the only picture she had of herself and Aaden. She threw it down and frantically searched her bedroom for a thumbtack, a stapler, or even some tape. She found a light blue tack on her bookshelf and hastily pinned the photo to the wall by her bed, where it would stay for many years to come…

* * *

Mercedes blew a strand of hair as she lay alone on her aunt's trampoline. It was near one o'clock in the morning, almost a full hour into the New Year. Her hair was sprawled out in every direction. She wasn't wearing her vest or her hat, even thought it was below freezing outside and she didn't have the motivation to get up and go get them. Her white sweater and blue jeans would have to do for now. Every breath that came out of her mouth was accompanied by a puff of fog. She knew she could get sick, but the stars were just so…beautiful.

The back canvas of the trampoline dipped as someone lay down next to her.

"Pretty, huh?"

Mercedes just nodded.

"That's what I'm gonna miss the most about this place."

Mercedes turned her head to the side, meeting the blue eyes of her cousin Samantha. She had always been there for her. Even when Mercedes was just a baby, Sami would help her mother out. That seemed like so long ago. In lass than a month, she would be eighteen and soon after that, she would be off to some big, prestigious college in the city. Mercedes looked up to her, for she was the only "good" role model in her family. She was the only one in her family, so far, that would still be a virgin as she walked across the stage, diploma in hand. There wouldn't be a drop out boyfriend holding a baby waiting for her when the commencement was over. It was a lot to live up to, but everything would be okay.

"Hey Sami, remember when we almost got abducted by aliens?"

She laughed.

"Of course I do! How could I forget? We were laying right here, in this very spot!"

"…just looking at the stars." Mercedes rolled onto her back once more and smiled, because she knew that wherever he was, Aaden would be looking at the same exact stars as her.

* * *

**A/N: So, I have decided to finally update. To be totally honest here, the chapters are supposed to go month by month, but November was giving me a lot of trouble as I had only two diary entries in that month. Nothing really exciting happened then. I decided to skip November and move on to the already written and ready to be published chapter of December, which is also the longest chapter that I have ever written (8 pages on Word! OMG). BTW Sami is pronounced the same way as Sammy. Updates will be sooner from this point on. Not like weekly soon (I wish) but monthly soon at the least.**

**Cheers!  
~CCAdventures**


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